Conviction
by gayasawindow
Summary: Emily is getting married soon. She meets someone on a smoke break during her bridal shower.
1. Chapter 1

**Been a while. Hello.**

**Got bored, wrote a little scene, let me know if you enjoyed it.**

Emily Fitch tried to control her speed as she left the banquet room, sped down the stairs and through the restaurant below, busting out a door hidden in the back next to the Men's room with a glowing EXIT sign above it. Even if it was true that she was trying to escape her own event, a fact that she continued to mentally deny as she breathed in the fresh air of the alley, she sure didn't want her guests to think that she was. She immediately felt relaxed now that she was outdoors, the air wasn't filled with expectations out here. It's not that she didn't appreciate all the gifts and well-wishes from her family and soon to be in-laws, it just wasn't right, she had the same uneasy feeling she had since they started planning this wedding. But out here in the dingy alley, she didn't have to fake anythting. Out here in the flickering light, her engagement ring gleamed peacefully rather than blinding her with nerves like it did in the bright lights inside.

For some reason, Emily once confided these feelings in her sister Katie, which was a giant mistake. Now she faces constant phone calls and questions from Katie, asking her if she's sure this is what she wants. But Emily's answer is always the same to her: Becca is great...amazing really, Emily is in love with her and of course this is what she wants. Their whole relationship flowed so easily into place, it wasn't until recently that talking about the long-term with Becca made Emily uncomfortable. She is continually telling herself that these are normal pre-wedding feelings, so normal in fact that they're practically cliche.

Emily lights a cigarette and once again tries to figure out why she's almost dreading her upcoming wedding rather than looking forward to it like a soon-to-be bride usually does. It could be because Becca's career is taking off, while Emily's is practically stagnant. When they first met, Emily was intimidated by Becca, since she dwarfed her in every sense of the word "success". But when she got to know her it was a complete turn around, Becca inspired her to be better rather than making her feel bad. Those initial feelings have been coming back lately, making her scared to tie herself to Becca and constantly be compared to her, be the lesser of a pair.

Emily also wasn't pretending she was unaware of the change in their sex life. She knows couples dating for as long as Becca and her have sex less often, but it still made her uneasy. When Emily realized how inactive her sex drive had been, she didn't think it was a big deal. The reason she wasn't instigating things with Becca wasn't because she was consumed with wanting other woman, she was simply busy and sex took a back seat to a good night's rest most evenings. And when they did have sex, it was just as good as it always had been. However over the past few months Emily felt her labido creeping back, but not for Becca. She would find her mind drifting off to inappropriate places, or she'd get abnormally turned on from a sex scene on the telly. But Emily still didn't find herself jumping Becca's bones.

Emily took a drag on the cigarette she forgot she was holding. After forcing the smoke from her mouth she had to cough out an apology, as she hadn't noticed the girl next to her who was now standing in a cloud of smoke.

"Fuck, Christ, I'm sorry I didn't see you!" Emily frantically fanned the smoke away from the stranger's face as she wondered if the girl had been out here the whole time, watching her trying to put out a forest fire of thoughts.

Luckily the woman only laughed, "It's fine, really. I was actually about to ask for a light." She held up her hand, showing the unlit Marlboro hanging casually from her fingers.

"Yeah, yeah of course, sorry." Emily fumbled back into her pocket for the Zippo, comforted by the fact that the woman chuckled again as Emily conjured a few sparks, and then eventually a flame.

"Don't even worry about it. I'm sorry for disturbing you, I wasn't gonna ask after you nearly tore that door off its hinges, but it's been hours. You alright?"

Emily nodded more to assure herself than the woman now taking long drags of her cigarette, "Yeah, just a bit stressed is all."

Emily hardly looked at the woman as just the mention of the word stress brought her mind floating back upstairs, reminding her that she will have to return soon. The woman bounced awkwardly on her feet, if Emily had been looking at her she would have seen her unsure expression, debating whether or not to continually attempt the awkward conversation or simply thank her for the light and slink back to her corner. But when Emily tilted her head back with her eyes closed to the sky, letting puffs of smoke billow out from her pierced nose, the woman decided to keep talking.

"May I ask why? Bad date?"

"No." Emily paused for a second, not planning on continuing. But she did anyway, she thought it might feel good to vent to a stranger, someone completely removed from the situation, "...rough bridal shower."

The woman laughed again, Emily almost smiled at the sound.

"I've been there, let me guess...stuck at a table full of strangers and one person you met once while drunk and hardly remember her name, stupid games, and boring conversation? How close are you with the bride?"

Emily almost rolled her eyes. How pathetic is it that she's avoiding her own shower?

"I am the bride."

The woman's laughter caught in her mouth and her eyes widened comically.

"Shit...sorry. Poor bloke."

"It's a woman."

"Who's a woman?"

"My fiancee's a woman."

"Oh! Sorry again. A lesbian bridal shower...there's a plot twist for you."

Emily felt her brow fall into an angry valley, "What, just because I'm wearing make up, a dress, and have long hair it's inconceivable for me to be gay?" _Fucking stereotypical breeder twat._

With her cigarette barely gripping her lips, the woman put up her hands in surrender, "Relax, I didn't mean any harm. I promise I'm not some homophobic asshole," Her hands fell and she removed the cigarette from her lips, "That'd make it pretty difficult to find dates."

"I'm sure you'll be able to find a homophobic asshole boyfriend and you'll live happily ever after. Trust me I've come across tons of them."

Emily flicked the ash from the tip of the cigarette, considering throwing it to the ground and stamping it out. Her mother boycotted the shower, so there's at least less homophobia up there than down with this bitch. But Emily found herself scowling again when the woman continued laguhing. She looked up and really looked at her for the first time. Emily tried to keep her scowl hardened even though she realized that the twat in front of her was in fact, pretty fucking hot.

"No! I was trying to imply that I'm gay," her hands gestured wildly as she tried to explain herself through her smile, "That was my attempt at a joke. As in it would be hard to date girls if I was homophobic, yeah? Okay so it wasn't as funny as I thought."

_Fuck, what am I doing?_ Had Emily's frustration turned her into an asshole without realizing it to the guests of her shower as well? She tried to think back through the day and figure out if she had been a dick to Becca at all. Wouldn't be the first time Emily had unexpectedly been called out for being an asshole when she hadn't even realized she was doing it.

"Fuck..." Emily made a groan of frustration as she ran her hands over her face, "I'm sorry. First I blow smoke in your face and now I'm being a cunt. I'm not a dick, really, I'm not myself today."

"Hey no problem, I love a little entertainment on my breaks." She transferred her cigarette to her left hand and presented her right to Emily, "I'm Naomi."

Emily felt the smooth skin of the Naomi's hand for the first time, "Emily."

"Nice to meet you Emily. I'm happy to know you're only a dick temporarily."

Emily did smile this time, and once again looked into her eyes. Now that she's really looked at her, Emily figured this girl would have no problem getting laid. That smile skipping down the street with those eyes, Emily thought it would be difficult for Naomi to not be a player.

Emily also noticed her uniform for the first time. White coat with a double row of buttons and a hat stuffed in her pocket.

"Oh hey...you're a chef. Wait do you work here?" Emily threw a thumb over her shoulder, pointing at the door she very recently stormed out of.

"Nope," She pointed to the back door of the fancy restaurant at her back, "I'm over here. Sous chef at your service."

"That's awesome, have you worked there long?"

"Long enough to be embarassed that I'm not Head Chef by now."

Emily saw her demeaner change, Naomi still spoke casually but Emily guessed it was something she was truly unhappy about.

"Sorry to hear that."

Naomi shrugged away the problem for now. Emily thought this girl was much better at that than she herself was.

"It's only a matter of time, the fucker we have now is an idiot, he'll be sacked soon I'm sure. I could make a better menu in my sleep and he apparently doesn't understand what the word 'lesbian' means. He's one of those 'homophobic assholes' you mentioned before."

"Sounds rough..."

Naomi shrugged casually again, "Yeah, it's not all bad though, I'm enjoying having slightly less responsibility while I can. Such as chatting up pretty girls on my extended smoke breaks." Naomi popped that smile but it left quickly as she covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh my God you're at your fucking bridal shower. That was completely inappropriate, I'm sorry."

Emily couldn't help but smile. _I've still got it._

"It's fine, being flirted with is hardly cheating." But Emily realized that being flirted with and wanting to flirt back, while thinking about how hot Naomi is...that's not something an engaged girl should do.. Thinking about cheating isn't cheating though, right?

"Still, that was a dick move."

"Well now we're both assholes, so we're even." The woman shared a smile.

"Emily?" Emily whipped around at the sound of her name as the door behind her opened. Becca stepped out and Emily dropped her hands stiffly to her sides as if she had been touching something inappropriate, "There you are babe, I've been looking for you. Who's your friend?"

"This is um...this is Naomi. Yeah, Naomi. She's um...she's a lesbian. I-I mean a chef. A lesbian chef. She works right over there."

Emily pointed to Naomi's restaurant, opened and closed her mouth a couple more times, shuffled awkwardly on her feet, and then finally stood still, trying to figure out if Becca was suspicious.

"Jesus I knew we shouldn't have had those shots at the bar before this started, are you out here sobering up?"

Emily forced an awkward laugh, "Yes! I am drunk, that's what's happening." She heard Naomi snort behind her.

Becca laughed at her fiancee and turned to Naomi, "It's so funny we ran into you out here, Naomi is it? You know my mother was actually thinking about your place for the rehearsal dinner."

"That'd be great! You know what..." Naomi reached in her pocket and fished out a business card. "Give me a call sometime, we'll talk details, I'll see if I can get them to cut you a deal."

"You are just the best, thank you! Emily babe we've got to get back in, Katie's thowing a fit asking where you are." Becca linked arms with Emily, pulling her back towards the door, "Thank you so much Naomi, I'll give you a call next week!"

"Great! Have fun tonight, nice meeting you Emily!"

The door shut behind the brides, "Katie is driving me crazy. Fuck I wish you would have made Cook your Best Man or some shit, nothing would have gotten done but at least it would have been more fun..."

Emily felt like she had gotten away with murder as she listened to Becca, slowly realizing as they walked the stairs that she hadn't actually done anything wrong. But she couldn't ignore the butterflies in her stomach that wouldn't go away all night.


	2. Chapter 2

**Funny story...before posting this it had been well over a year since I had posted anything, in that time I apparently turned off my email alerts for reviews/follows and such and forgot I did it. So I went like a week all really? Not one person had anything to say about this, good or bad? So much for rekindling my writing hobby. I actually logged back in with intention to delete the story, it was a nice surprise to find a baker's dozen of reviews waiting for me. I thank you all very much for reviewing and following and such. It is because of you that I can bring you chapter 2, enjoy :)**

Emily played with the water droplets condensing on her pint glass as she eyed the beer she purchased for her sister sitting untouched across the table. Katie had kept her waiting so long that she had nearly downed a pint already and was considering starting on Katie's. If she was going to be this late, she didn't deserve a free round anyway. Emily wasn't even going to accept the invitation when Katie texted to meet her, but she thought a pint might kill the last of the hangover she's had scratching at her brain all day. After the shower the bridal party went out to the nearest pub they could find and got completely smashed.

The beer was in fact doing wonders, Emily thought she was already on the verge of buzzed, but that didn't help her impatience. Sitting here alone was just giving Emily more time to think about things she wasn't supposed to be thinking about. All of last night and today Emily couldn't stop thinking about her brief conversation with Naomi and she had the nagging feeling that she was in trouble with Becca. The blurry memories of last night kept playing through her mind, she was sure she had only spent the night thinking about Naomi, not actually talking about her. Emily wasn't even sure she had a reason to be guilty, she wanted to believe that the conversation they had was innocent. It was probably only in her drunk mind throughout the night that Emily had turned it into the flirty chat that played in her mind all night. Emily took another large pull from her beer, hoping the alcohol would drown the guilt and paranoia she couldn't seem to shake.

Earlier in the day Emily even debated trying to change Becca's mind about having the rehearsal dinner there so she could avoid the situation all together, but she knew it'd be useless. Becca's mum is obsessed with the place, and since they're footing the bill it'd be a bit rude to deny her. The idea of being around both Becca and Naomi even for a few minutes made her very uneasy, she'd constantly be on edge, making sure she wasn't staring too long or saying things that could be taken the wrong way. Whether Naomi was flirting with her or not last night was one thing, but Emily couldn't deny the fact that she was attracted to her and that she _wanted_ Naomi to be flirting with her. Even though she'd never cheat on Becca Emily realized she'd be sad if Naomi wasn't attracted to her. _What the fuck is up with that?_

"So..." Katie's purse slammed onto the table out of nowhere, startling Emily out of her thoughts as Katie took a seat across from her, "We have to talk about the hen night."

Emily buried her face in her hands, "Seriously? Is that the only reason you invited me out? It's been less than 24 hours since the shower can't we have just like two days of no wedding shit?"

"You should probably be more excited to plan your own wedding, especially the hen night. It's closer than you realize I just want to get the basics straight so I can really start planning, that's all we have to do today. Are you sure about the 23rd? You're sure you can get that night and the next day off work?"

"Yes, already talked to Jonno, I'll have the whole weekend off."

Katie took a quick look around the pub, she had invited Cook out as well and she wanted to make sure he wasn't here before continuing.

"Perfect. First things first, Cook's not coming."

"What?" Emily perked up from her sulking position, "Yes he is!"

"Emily this is a hen night. As in hens only, women only...that's how it works. We can't have a cock hanging about."

"Are we still talking about chickens or did you mean a dick?"

"What?"

"Nevermind...Katie I told you he's coming _and_ he's planning it with you. He's standing in the wedding and I'm marrying a woman, this is hardly traditional I don't think we need to worry about that. Cook is my best friend, besides you!" Emily added before Katie had a chance to complain, "I'd be crushed if he wasn't there."

Katie groaned dramatically, "God you are so frustrating. Fine, but I'm not letting him take us to a strip club, I know he'll want to."

Emily smiled, knowing that it was probably true, "You two can discuss that. What do you have in mind for me anyway?"

"Not telling you, it's a surprise."

Katie looked over Emily's head and waved Cook over to them, who had been wandering around for a minute looking for the girls and trying to balance the drinks he'd just bought.

"Evening lady Fitches, fresh round for ya."

Emily counted the pints as Cook handed them out, "Why'd you get four, is someone else coming?"

"Nope, just planning ahead, these two are for me."

Emily laughs and Katie rolls her eyes as Cook downs nearly half of one of the pints. He wipes away the foam left on his lips with the back of his hand before talking.

"Ems I can't fucking believe how much cash and shit the two of yous raked in last night." Emily nodded in agreement, both her and Becca had large families and Becca's family especially went a little crazy with the generosity, "Makes me want to find a bird just so I can get married. Whatchu think Katiekins? Want to get hitched so your family buys us shit?"

"Trust me Cook no one in my family would approve of you let alone buy us anything."

.

.

.

Emily felt pleasantly buzzed as the three of them left the pub a couple hours later.

Katie noisily dug her keys from her purse, "You want a lift home, Em?"

"Thanks but I'll walk." It wasn't a long walk and the setting sun made for a beautiful evening to clear her mind before heading home.

"Okay I'll see you next week. Cook you want a ride?"

"I've been waiting for you to ask..."

Cook slung his arm around Katie's shoulders but she quickly shrugged him off, "You're repulsive, just get in the car..."

Emily had not seen Becca yet today, she had left for work by the time Emily woke up. Just like last night, everything seemed normal in the few texts they had shared during the day, giving Emily no reason to think anything was wrong, but with each step she felt increasingly more nervous. If she kept up with this paranoia there's no way Becca wouldn't catch on that something was up.

Emily took a deep breath before unlocking the door, she heard Becca call out a greeting as soon as she was fully in the house. When Emily enters the room, Becca closes her laptop that she had been typing away on and sits it on the table in front of her. She doesn't look mad necessarily, but something is definitely off, worry maybe?

"You left your phone...I answered it while you were gone."

Emily's hands felt the outside of her empty pockets where her phone usually sits even though she was just told it wouldn't be there. The creeping anxiety she's been holding back all day storms the trenches, did she speak to Naomi? Emily didn't think she had given Naomi her phone number, but maybe the drunken stupor she got herself into later made her forget that bit.

"Who was it?"

Emily's voice was unsure and shaky. As the seconds of silence added up, Emily thought she was going to explode with guilt.

"Your mum..."

"What? Oh..." Emily realized why Becca's expression seemed strange, it wasn't that she was mad at Emily, she didn't want Emily to be mad at her. Emily's anxiety was abruptly replaced with annoyance, "What the fuck Becca why did you answer?"

"If she was calling I figured it was important and I knew you wouldn't call her back!"

"Well was it important? Wait has someone died?"

"No, no everything's fine. She just wants to apologize, she invited us to dinner next week."

Emily slumped into a seat on the couch and stared at Becca in bewilderment. Becca and her own mother were very close, friends even, as it should be for a woman in her mid-twenties. But sometimes it was like Becca didn't understand that not everybody is going to have the same type of healthy relationship with their mum as those two have.

"We're not going, she's a bitch. I can't believe you just answered my fucking phone!"

Becca moved quickly across the room and sat close to Emily, grabbing her hand as she spoke. Emily thought of pulling away from her, but realized the gesture was actually quite comforting.

"She says she wants to make it up to us for not coming yesterday, I think it's for real you should have heard her! She wants to apologize, she might actually want to come to the wedding."

Emily made sure to control the volume of her voice, she didn't want to yell at Becca. After all it was her mum that Emily was mad at to begin with, not Becca.

"She didn't go to her own daughter's bridal shower she doesn't get to be invited to the wedding, she's a cunt! Not every mum is as nice as yours and deserves a good relationship with her daughter."

"I know, I know. Relax Ems I didn't mean to stress you out." Her hands moved to Emily's face, making her look at her, "I know she's been a bitch, and I know it's okay if you two aren't close. But I also know you're hurting over this Emily, I can tell, it breaks my heart to see her break yours. Maybe this is your chance to make amends. But we don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

Becca kissed her with her hands still on Emily's face.

"I don't know...she's done this before and just fucks up again."

"I know, she's been a cunt. Just promise me you'll think about it? It's not until next week so we have a few days. Your brother will be in town, too."

Becca kissed her again, this time one of her hands found the skin of Emily's neck and it turned her on far more than it should have. Emily briefly thought of how long it'd been since they'd had sex, but it was just a couple days ago, that couldn't be the reason a simple kiss would drive her crazy.

There's a beep from the table and Emily's phone vibrates from a text, "Is it your mum?"

"No, it's my brother." Emily smiled as she read the text, she doesn't talk to James as much as she should.

_Don't be a twat even though Mum is. Come to dinner, I miss you and Becca. But mostly Becca._

"He says we should go, and that he misses you."

Becca scoffs, "All those girls at uni and he can't find himself a girlfriend so he stops thinking about yours?"

"I doubt he's even kissed anyone let alone found someone who will date him."

"Fair point. I'm gonna hop in the shower, just think about dinner, okay?" Emily nodded, "I think I'm gonna call that Naomi girl from last night about the rehearsal. Do you know if I told her my name? I don't know if she'll remember me."

Emily did remember, the moment Becca came out of the door is etched in her brain because Emily felt that she was caught in some terrible act. Becca definitely introduced herself, and before Emily could even stop herself she decided to take advantage of this opportunity. She would call the girl and it would be an entirely innocent, non-flirty conversation. Emily would get the fuck over the fact this girl didn't want to bang her and go back to only thinking about Becca and the upcoming doom of a family dinner like she was supposed to.

"I'm not sure...don't worry about it though I'll call her, she'll remember me we talked for a while."

"Great, thanks babe." Becca searched her purse for Naomi's card, "Is she really a lesbian?"

For a second Emily thought this conversation was going down a bad path, that is until she saw the smile on Becca's face.

"Yeah, she told me she was after I said I'm marrying a woman."

"Do you know if she's single? She was cute, right? We should hook her up with Alexis, she'd fucking owe us for life for bagging her that piece of ass."

"Becca!"

"Come on babes you have to admit she was hot."

Emily eyed her for a second before answering, making sure she wasn't being trapped. If not, that comment was definitely good news, it's obvious Becca isn't suspicious of anything.

"Yeah, yeah she was. Funny too. She didn't say if she was single." Emily almost added that it seemed as though she was, but that was because Naomi had hit on her, so it was probably best to leave that part out.

"We'll have to find out, she might be a catch. Here's the card, let me know how it goes."

Becca kissed Emily on the forehead and skipped off towards their bedroom for a shower. Emily fumbled with her phone as she looked at the card, suddenly feeling very nervous for some reason. _Naomi Campbell...is this girl even real? _She stared at the card until she heard the water running for a shower, Emily wasn't sure why but she didn't want Becca to overhear this conversation.

Emily took a deep breath as she listened to the ring.

"Aubree's - this is Naomi."

Her voice was rushed and possibly annoyed, it sounded as though she had said that greeting a million times before and had grown tired of it very quickly. The chaos of the kitchen was audible in the background including what sounded like countless voices, but even Naomi's voice sounded different. If she hadn't said her name Emily wouldn't have been sure it was her, Emily realized that it was Naomi's professional voice. She also thought she might be interrupting something important and felt even more nervous.

"Hi...this is Emily. Emily Fitch."

"Fitch?"

"Yeah...oh wait, I never told you my last name, did I?"

"Apparently not...it doesn't sound familiar."

Emily could hear the smile in her voice. She imagined Naomi was trying to stifle laughter in an effort to stay professional.

"Right, sorry. Emily from last night, it was my bridal shower, I lit your fag."

The tone in Naomi's voice instantly changed, her professionalism melted away in just a few words.

"Ohhh _that_ Emily, right...I'm glad you called. Hold on a sec."

_Jesus Emily, relax. _It felt like she was calling her crush for the first line muffled slightly but she could still hear Naomi yell to a couple different cooks. Emily enjoyed the different sides of Naomi she was discovering so quickly on this phone call. Professional Naomi, boss Naomi, Emily wondered what else she'd discover. For research purposes of course, solely for her friend Alexis.

Emily heard a door shut and the noise from the kitchen was cut off.

"Sorry, had to take you into my office, can be a bit hectic out there."

"No problem, I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"Not at all...so when's the big day?"

"September 5th, it's a Friday."

"Okay so you're looking for the 4th, do you know what time exactly?"

"Yeah, 5:00..." Emily could hear Naomi typing away as she asked her a string of questions about the dinner.

"Alright we definitely can fit you guys in that night. I'm gonna talk to Denise, she handles all the event shit around here. I'll tell her we're cousins or something so she'll cut you a deal."

Emily laughed, "Cousins, eh?"

"Hmm that might be weird. Maybe not cousins, I don't know I'll think of something. But I'll talk to her see what I can work out. I'll see her tomorrow, so I'll give you a call back in the next few days and we'll sort out all the details?"

"Yeah, yeah that works."

"No problem. Is the number you called from your mobile?"

"Sure is."

"Look at that, I didn't even have to ask for it." Emily thought she heard the squeak of a chair and imagined Naomi had leaned back and put her feet up, "When's the last time you two have been here? I know I said the new menu is shit but it's only because I know mine would be better." Emily could picture Naomi's smile in her head.

"Actually we haven't been, it's really Becca's mum that's crazy about it."

"No shit, really? You have to come before the rehearsal dinner."

"Yeah you're right, we should."

"What about this weekend? I work every evening."

"Actually we were already planning on going out Friday, at about 7?"

"Perfect, I'll put you two down. I guess I'll see you Friday then, it's a date."

Emily bit her lip as she smiled, "Right, a date. I'll see you then."

They said their goodbyes and Emily smiled at her phone after she hung up. But it slowly dawned on her that this was the exact situation she was trying to avoid, she was sure Naomi would only be able to pop out for a chat for a minute or two if at all during dinner, but that could be enough to make it awkward. She had been so giddy to talk to Naomi that it actually felt like she was planning a date with her, she almost forgot for a second that Becca was coming along too.

Emily felt like shit, who was she becoming? But she knew she loved Becca and that she wouldn't cheat on her, so even if her and Naomi flirted a little it was still harmless, right? Emily laid back on the couch and ran her hands through her hair.

"Fuck."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the delay in chapters, I have a habit of blabbing and making even the shortest scenes lengthy. But here you are! Thank you for reading and reviewing, please do so again if you have a minute!**

"Fuck you, Emily."

Emily rolls her eyes as she lays next to Becca. She knows those words coming so harshly from her future wife should hurt her feelings, but they don't. They've been fighting for hours now, at this point she's over feeling bad. The only thought that those words bring to her mind is that maybe this cues the end of the argument and Emily can finally go to sleep. It's 3am and for a couple hours now all Emily has wanted from Becca is for her to shut the fuck up.

Hours ago Becca and Emily were having a simple conversation over dinner, and Emily had asked a simple question that Becca took the wrong way. Somehow that turned to bickering which turned to arguing and hours later, here they are. Emily shuts her eyes against the night and tries to remember exactly what the ground zero question was, but she can't. The argument exploded through so many turns since then that the origin was lost.

Emily missed the days that her and Becca only fought when they were drunk. When under the influence, Becca is always a little more sensitive and Emily is a little more sarcastic, leading to a lot of arguing over silly things. In those days their hangovers lasted longer than their fights. It wasn't really until the last year that Becca and her started having real fights. But Emily knows that fighting is a part of being with someone, it's bound to happen every once in a while. Lately it's been bad, Emily assumes it's because of the stress of the wedding.

Becca abruptly turns away from Emily and pulls the blanket tighter around herself. Emily listens carefully and after a minute it's clear in the silence that Becca is trying to stop herself from crying. Once again Emily has the wrong reaction to the situation. Rather than feeling bad, she has to stifle an annoyed sigh. Over the past year Emily has become increasingly desensitized to Becca getting emotional. There was a time that if Emily had gotten Becca upset in an argument, that would basically be the end of it. Her guilt at getting too mean or saying the wrong thing was always more important than whatever she was mad about. The first time that things were different, that she didn't even feel bad, that was the first time Emily felt like something might be wrong in their relationship. But she convinced herself that the nonchalance was normal, and it didn't mean that she didn't care, just that she wanted to stand up for herself and not give in.

Even though she had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to collect any sympathy, she wasn't about to let Becca think she didn't give a shit. Emily scoots across the bed, worms her way under the blanket and cuddles into her woman. She pulls the hair back from Becca's ear and is about to mutter an apology that she doesn't feel Becca deserves, but Becca pulls away from her.

"Come on, babe."

"No, fuck off."

Emily stares at the back of her head and anger fuels her, making her suddenly feel wide awake. No matter how mad they were at each other, they've never slept apart before. Any scraps of sympathy she felt are now completely gone, she can't believe she was about to apologize to her for not doing anything wrong.

"Fine, fuck you too then."

Emily pulls one of the blankets from the bed and her phone from the bedside table and storms out of the room. She stomps to the couch and throws herself onto it, angrily covering herself up with the blanket and trying to get comfortable. The night is quiet apart from Emily's heavy breathing. She lays there, wondering if Becca will come out and ask her to come back to bed. Wanting her to, but not wanting her to at the same time. Emily decides that she's not going to give in this time, not going to take the blame and pretend it's her fault just to end the fight. After a while she knows Becca isn't going to come out, and she manages to calm herself down enough to try to get to sleep.

Emily opens her eyes after what felt like minutes of sleep, but sunlight has filled the room so she knows morning has crept up on her. She sits up and swings her legs onto the floor, violently waking up the ginger cat that had fallen asleep curled up on her lap. He meows grumpily at her as he hops down onto the floor.

"Shit...sorry boy." She clicks her tongue to try to get him to come back, but it's no use. Emily rubs her face with her hands trying to wake herself up, and the memories of the previous night come back to her. Her sleepiness turns to anger when she remembers that Becca woke her up briefly this morning before she left for work. The memory is foggy, but she knows Becca made no attempt to apologize. Emily grabs her phone from the coffee table and finds no texts waiting for her. If she was honest with herself though, she didn't really expect Becca to apologize, she was merely hoping that things would be different this time.

As great of a person Becca is, she has a problem with admitting when she's in the wrong. Emily tries to shake away her frustration as she gets ready for the day, but can't help but think back and realize that every time they fight, Becca manages to work an apology out of Emily even though she knows nothing was her fault. Emily can remember maybe twice that Becca apologized to her for starting shit.

As soon as she's out the door and into her car she pulls her phone out to find someone to rant to. Her finger hovers over Katie's name in her recent calls list but she knows exactly how that conversation would go. Before Emily could have a chance to finish the story Katie would panic about how it will effect the wedding rather than actually trying to make Emily feel better. If Katie was on her game she might even manage to twist it around to be about her. That conversation is sure to stress her out even more, so instead she taps Cook's name and puts the phone impatiently to her ear as she starts her car.

"Red! What's up babes?"

"Hey Cook..."

That was all it took for Cook to know something was up. There's a slight ruffling on the end of the line and the sounds of whatever he was watching on the telly is muted.

"You alright muff monkey?"

"I don't know..."

"What's going on?"

"Becca and I fought again last night."

"Again? I thought you two were over that shit."

"We were for a while, it's been starting again lately. I don't know maybe it's the wedding."

"Come to mine, we'll talk it over."

Emily glances at the LCD clock on the radio. She's heading to work but doesn't have to be there at a certain time and Cook's place is on her way. Ultimately though she decides against it, she'll probably get stuck there for a lot longer than she means to, and in general she tries to avoid Cook's shithole of a flat. Cook has been living in the same place since just after college, he was the first of their friends to get his own place, and she spent more time there that year than at her own home. But now that they've all grown up a bit, it's definitely not their first choice of places to hang out.

"I shouldn't, I'm heading to work I don't really have time."

"Alright, spill then."

Emily does just that, with every detail she can remember. Cook hands out advice when he can, but he knows that what Emily really needs is to just get her frustration off her chest.

"I know she's just gonna hold it over my head until I give in, but fuck that. Not this time."

"Too right, fuck that. So you haven't called her yet?"

"No, we actually have a date planned tonight, figure we'll have plenty of time to talk then."

"Shit...that'll be awkward. You should cancel, stay home tonight, talk it out."

"It's complicated. We're trying out a place for the rehearsal dinner, we were kind of invited."

"Fuck...good luck Red."

Emily waits impatiently for a punk kid to mosey across the road before she can pull into the parking lot. She realizes just how wound up she is when it's extremely hard to resist the urge to yell at him to hurry the fuck up.

"I know, I'm fucked. I'll let you go though, just got to work. I'll let you know how it goes."

"Alright call me. Oh! Remember next week I have that appointment to get a tux, you still comin' with?"

"Yes, I didn't forget I'll be there. I'll call you."

Emily slams her car door harder than she intended, decides she needs a drink as soon as possible. She lifts her sunglasses to the top of her head as she opens the door to the pub and lets her eyes adjust to the dim lighting. It's early, so there are only a handful of day-drinkers inside. The place is a bit of a dive, but it does well and it's a good place to work. One of the old regulars sitting at the bar spots her and waves drunkenly, Emily returns the wave and is surprised how much the simple gesture lifts her spirits. The people that come here are what makes her days worthwhile. Emily loves them and they love her ever since she started as a bartender years ago. The regulars practically threw her a party when she told them she was promoted to general manager.

It certainly isn't a glorious job, but Emily enjoys it and it's hard to get motivated to find a new job when you're paid well and you can basically do whatever you want because your boss is an old friend. When Emily applied for a bartending job she was unaware that her friend Jon from college who she hadn't spoken to in a couple years was actually the owner. Turns out his wealthy parents died the year after college, leaving him with a massive inheritance that he used to help him open this place so he didn't have to "be a slave to the man".

When Jon called her it was less to set up an interview, but more to see if it was really the Emily Fitch he knew and loved. She came in to the bar and simply proved she had basic knowledge of making drinks and she was hired on the spot. Half the battle of finding good employees is finding people that will keep a smile on their face and aren't complete idiots, and of course Jon knew Emily could handle it. She didn't think she'd ever do well or enjoy being in a management position, but Jon thought differently and convinced her to try it out. After a year or so when Emily had been excelling in her position and the bar was doing well, Jon offered her the top spot. The job required working a lot of hours and a lot of nights, it was hard to uphold a social life with the schedule, so Jon was anxious to let that lifestyle go. After her training period Jon didn't regret his decision for a second.

Emily reaches the bar and greets the bartender working, "Hey Thomas." Thomas was also a friend from college, he looks up from the drink he's pouring and flashes his bright smile to Emily, "How's it been today?"

"Fine...steady. You didn't tell me you were coming in today."

"Yeah I've got some stuff to finish up before the weekend." Emily taps a few buttons on the register to check out the sales report from the previous day just as two men take a seat on the opposite side of the bar. Business types, there's always a good amount of them that show up on their lunch break. One of them calls out to her before she even has a chance to look up at them.

"Oi Red, when's your sweet ass gonna get me a pint?"

Emily smiles at her screen and then cocks an eyebrow at the guy, just in time to see his friend roll his eyes. Emily has seen him in here plenty of times, knows he's a sweet guy. She digs through her memory and tries to unearth his name as she wonders what the hell he's doing hanging out with this douche, surely he has other choices of coworkers to grab lunch with.

She makes a point to avoid his friend's eye contact as she approaches them and puts her palms on the smooth wood of the bar, "It's Mike, right?"

He smiles, "Mark, actually. Sorry about him."

Emily shrugs off his apology, "Used to it, what can I get you mate?"

They both order the same shitty beer, and Emily addresses the friend as she pulls Mark a pint, "Only my best friend can call me Red, and only my fiancee's allowed to look at my ass."

"That's a shame." He winks at her over his over-confident grin, which doesn't falter until she puts Mark's drink in front of him and makes it clear she has no intention of getting him one.

"Where's mine?"

"Thomas, this one gets his pint when he learns his manners." She returns his wink and turns away, "I'll be in the office Thomas, yell if you need me."

"Oh, come on!" She hears the guy yell as she turns the corner out of sight. As much as she enjoys fucking with people who deserve it, it definitely isn't enough to make her forget about Becca. The computer hums to life when Emily takes a seat and clicks open the half-finished staff schedule she needs to do today. She tries to focus on it but she can't stop thinking about her upcoming date and her worry builds as she stares at the bright screen. It will be extremely awkward and embarrassing if Naomi is able to feel the tension between them. They're supposed to be the happy couple planning their wedding.

"Emily..." Emily jumps slightly, she hadn't realized it but she had been staring at the screen without actually doing anything for who knows how long. She looks up to the door to find Thomas' head poking around the corner, "Would you like a drink?"

"God yes. Don't worry about it though, I'll get-"

"Relax Emily, I will get it for you. I can tell you need it."

Emily smiles, Thomas is probably the nicest guy she knows, "Thanks...rum, anything with rum."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just stressed is all."

"Okay, I'll be back."

Emily leans back in her chair and stares at the grungy ceiling. If Thomas could tell she was stressed by talking to her for hardly a minute, she definitely needs to chill out. He returns quickly with a drink for her and she thanks him again. Like all other Thomas-made Emily drinks, it's extremely strong, so Emily takes a tentative sip. She knows she's too distracted to get too much done right now, so she decides to give in to her meandering thoughts for a few minutes before diving into her work. She wonders if she should take Cook's advice and canel their reservation, but that would mean not seeing Naomi, which Emily didn't like the sound of either.

_Fuck...I can't think like that what's wrong with me? _Even though she scolds herself for the thoughts, Emily checks her watch and wonders if Naomi is at work yet. Pictures her bossing people around the kitchen again, rolling her eyes behind the head chef's back. She thinks about her friend Alexis and decides she only wants to see Naomi for investigative purposes. She can hardly play matchmaker if she doesn't even know the girl.

_Speaking of investigating..._Emily peaks around the corner of the very tiny office to check for Thomas before opening an Internet browser and types Naomi's name and the name of her restaurant into the search bar. Her heart races when she sees the first result is Naomi's Facebook. She clicks anxiously into the page but finds all of her information is hidden from the public. Basically all that's visible is her profile picture, even her relationship status is nowhere to be seen. But Emily's heart falls when she enlarges her profile picture; it's of Naomi and a pretty brunette laughing together at a bar, Emily would bet anything that they are together. Emily takes a long drink and tries to ignore her disappointment.

The investigation doesn't last long after that, no other search options she could find were about her Naomi. _Not my Naomi...just Naomi. _After that was out of the way it felt easier to concentrate on work. Or maybe it was the rum letting her take her focus off of Becca finally. The hours flew by quickly as Emily rushed around the place taking care of all the loose ends before the rush tonight and this weekend. Before she knew it it was time to pick Becca up from their house and head off for their date.

The drive is quiet, not quite awkward, just quiet. Now that the night is beginning Emily's nerves start to play up again, but she remains stoic. She doesn't want to be rude or bitchy anymore, but she doesn't want to be too nice either, at least not yet. Emily drums her hands on the steering wheel to match her accelerated heartbeat as she tries to figure out how to patch things up early without playing into Becca's game. Emily turns the volume down on the radio, she can see Becca look over to her out of the corner of her eye, waiting for her to fill the silence, but Becca beats her to it.

"I'm sorry, Emily."

Emily glances quickly at her fiancee and then back to the road. She's so shocked to hear it she's surprised she manages to resist responding with _what the fuck? _No other response comes to mind so she remains silent, dumbstruck.

"Seriously, I was a huge fucking twat last night. Work is just really stressing me out lately, nothing's going right, and I know I've been taking it out on you lately. I'm sorry."

Emily's so happy to hear an apology she feels like she could practically cry. Her hand moves to Becca's leg and Becca grips it tightly.

"It's okay babe. I was an ass too."

Becca scoffs, "Hardly, if you were it was only because I deserved it."

Emily is finally able to look at Becca when they approach a red light and she brings the car to a stop. She pulls Becca's hand to her mouth and places a light kiss on the back of it.

"It's okay."

"Can we just get back to normal tonight? I want to feel like us again. We can talk more about it later but I want to have fun tonight."

Emily smiles, "Yes, please, that sounds perfect. I've been a wreck all day, honestly."

"Fuck babes, I'm sorry. I knew I should have called you earlier, I'm such an idiot."

Becca cups Emily's cheek and pulls her closer to the passenger side. For a second Emily forgets where they are, surrounded by cars and not in their own home and she lets Becca kiss her. Emily's hand winds itself into Becca's brown hair when she feels her tongue on her lips. The weight that's been keeping her down all day lifts, that's all Emily wanted was for things to be different this time. She does want to talk it out more later, but for now that's all she needed. All she wants tonight is to feel normal, and not be embarrassed that their relationship is on the rocks. Because overall things are normal, this was just bad timing.

The car behind them honks, the light had turned and Emily was holding up traffic. The women laugh as Emily jolts the car forward and waves to the angry old guy behind them. She eyes him in the rear view mirror, wonders if he can tell she's laughing at him.

Becca grabs Emily's hand again, "I love you, babe."

"I love you, too."

Things are much more comfortable for the rest of the ride, the air's no longer thick and toxic with tension, Emily can feel her body relax. But as they near their destination, Emily realizes she might not be angry anymore, but she still feels nervous. She wishes time would slow down so she could have a minute to collect her thoughts. The universe, the asshole that it is, doesn't give her that extra time, rather it seems to speed it up. Which leaves her no time to figure out why she has butterflies in her stomach.

Before she can get herself together they get to the restaurant and are being seated. Emily doesn't even take a second to look around and appreciate her surroundings. She's so lost in her worries she hardly notices when the server appears to introduce himself and get them started.

Out of nowhere, Naomi appears next to the server, and time finally listens to Emily's plea and stops completely. Emily locks eyes with her and realizes how much she's been looking forward to this all week. They share a smile, but then the moment passes, and the rush of a busy restaurant fast forwards back to life around them.

Naomi nudges the server, "These are the friends I told you about Freds." She seems to conjure a bottle of wine out of nowhere and sets it on the table, "First one's on me ladies, favorite of mine. Freddie here knows what I recommend, he'll give you the details. I'll be back later to check on you two."

She leaves before either of them can even thank her, Emily watches her as she walks swiftly to the kitchen.

"Shit..." Becca's voice brings her attention back to the table. Freddie had poured them glasses of the white wine and disappeared as Emily watched Naomi walk away and didn't take her eyes off the door, "This is fucking delicious." Becca takes hold of the bottle to examine it, "This is crazy, Naomi is like the nicest person ever. I can't believe she's doing all this for us. She better be single."

"Yeah...I wonder."

Emily takes in her surroundings for the first time and is quite impressed. No wonder Becca's mum is in love with this place, it is seriously fucking fancy. Their table is slightly secluded, perfect spot for a romantic date. Emily is happy she can see into the kitchen, but manages to tear her eyes away from it. She has to focus on Becca and ignore the want to keep track of Naomi.

"You didn't tell me work was stressing you out, what's got you all wound up?"

Becca groans and launches into a story. Emily listens and is glad that their work lives are so different. Becca is constantly stressed, there's so much pressue and shit to deal with. She's grateful she was able to easily slide into her position in such a laid back place. The only good thing about Becca's job is the set schedule, no weekends, no nights, no surprises. Emily misses being able to have an open social life, wishes more of her friends were in the same boat she was so she could see them more often. Naomi probably has to work a lot of evenings as well, at least in a place like this she doesn't have to work so late like Emily does.

"Emily...Emily!" Emily startles, looks back to Becca. She hadn't realized it but Naomi had entered her line of sight in the kitchen and Emily had been staring at her. "Are you listening?"

"Yeah, yeah of course." She sits up in her chair, tries to refocus on the conversation, "Sorry, I can see into the kitchen...someone just dropped a bunch of shit. Poor bloke."

Becca turns to see the poor guy cleaning up his mess, and Emily's heart stops, but luckily the kitchen door swung closed just as she turned, blocking the fabricated situation from view. _Focus...stop looking at the fucking kitchen. _Emily does better after the close call, she wants to prove to Becca that everything is back to normal.

After a long week and a fight the previous night, Emily wants nothing more than to take back way too many glasses of wine and get drunk with Becca. Unfortunately though she has to drive home and is forced to take it slow. Becca however takes advantage of the ride home and gets increasingly more drunk throughout the meal. Freddie is on his game with the drinks, making sure they're never out. When they're just about done eating, Naomi joins them again. Emily is proud of herself when Naomi shows up, she didn't see her coming which means Emily was successfully focusing on what she's supposed to be.

Naomi drags a chair over to us from a recently vacated table and sits backwards in it.

"How was everything?"

Emily smiles at her through the slight buzz she has, it feels like the biggest she's smiled all night. Becca gushes about the food and the wine and how great everything was, which is true, everything was amazing, but Emily doesn't want to talk about the food. All she wants is to talk to Naomi about herself, to figure her out.

Emily can't imagine Naomi has much time to chat with them though, "Aren't you busy back there still?"

Naomi shrugs, "Rush is over, I have a few minutes." Emily looks around and sees that the place really has cleared out quite a bit.

"So Naomi...I have a question for you."

Both Naomi and Emily look at Becca questioningly, who simply giggles drunkenly. Emily gives her a look, pleads with her not to embarass them.

"What's up?"

"Are you single?"

Naomi simply smiles at the question but Emily doesn't think it's appropriate, "Becca!"

"What? We're never gonna find out unless we ask!"

Naomi raises an eyebrow and throws it between the two of them, "So you've been talking about me?"

"I'm sorry Naomi, she's kind of drunk."

Naomi waves Emily's worries away, "It's fine, really, I don't mind. No, I'm not dating anyone."

"Emily and I have a friend, she'd be so into you, I know it. Her name's Alexis." Naomi looks down at her hands and then shoots a glance to Emily. With that glance Emily is sure she's going to say no to the hook up, but the look of doubt passes as quickly as it came, "Would you want to meet her maybe?"

"Why not? Awkward blind dates are my specialty."

"Fuck that, we'll invite you out with our friends so you can meet her."

Naomi smiles again, but there's something different about this one, something sad about it, "Sure, that'd be cool. I'll give you my cell number."

Becca claps in excitement as Naomi pulls a pen out of her breast pocket and uses an unused napkin for paper.

"This is gonna be great. Emily we should plan a bar night or something next weekend. Do you know when Alexis works?"

"I don't know, it'll be hard to coordinate all of our schedules."

Becca's eyes suddenly widen in excitement and she smacks the table, nearly spilling her wine. Naomi pops her pen back into her pocket and looks at Becca expectantly for the cause of excitement.

"Oh my god! I have great idea! Naomi you should go to Emily's hen night, Alexis will be there!"

Emily's heart jumps, "I umm...I don't know about that." Emily's mind races for excuses for this not to be a good idea, "My friends are planning it...I don't know where we're going I couldn't even tell you where to meet us."

Becca dismisses her, "I'll give Katie her number and she'll give her the details."

"Really, I don't-"

Naomi interrupts her, Emily notices that her real smile is back, "I think that is a _great_ idea."

Becca celebrates, "Yes! This is so fucking perfect."

"Really Naomi, don't feel pressured to say yes it might be a shit night."

Becca eyes Emily suspiciously, "Trust me Naomi, her friends are awesome, no matter what they do it'll be a good time."

"Sounds great, I'm definitely in."

"Yes! I'll have Katie, that's Emily's sister, I'll have her text you the details."

Freddie the server comes up behind Naomi and whispers something in her ear. Naomi rolls her eyes, "Fuck...can't leave them alone for five fucking minutes. I've got to get back." Naomi stands, "Thanks for coming, hope you two had a nice time."

"Thank you so much Naomi, it was great, really. I'll have Katie text you tomorrow about the party."

Naomi says her goodbyes and heads quickly back for the kitchen.

Emily rounds on her girlfriend, "Becca! Why'd you invite her?"

"Why not? She's awesome I thought you liked her? You don't want her there?"

Emily pulls the brakes on her anger, remembers the only reason she doesn't want her there is because she's attracted to her. She needs a new excuse, she can't exactly tell her fiancee she doesn't want Naomi there because she wants to rip her clothes off.

"Ummm no, no she seems fun. It's just, you know how Katie is, I already gave her the list of people I want there."

"Oh fuck Katie, she'll get over it. Plus she loves trying to hook people up, she'll be excited for this, trust me." Becca pulls out her phone to text Alexis that she's going to have a better time than she originally thought at the party, "Think they'll take it slow or fuck the night of the party?"

"Jesus Becca. Do you have to say it like that?"

Becca cocks an eyebrow, "Says James Cook's best friend. Aren't you used to hearing shit like that?"

"I don't know, I guess it's just weird coming from you."

After that Emily was glad the date was over. The two women return home, Emily tries to pretend she isn't annoyed with how drunk Becca is. When they walk through the door Becca kisses Emily frantically, but Emily sends her to bed so she can hop in the shower before going to sleep. By the time Emily meets her in the bedroom, Becca is passed out cold, amd Emily is almost glad if it. She lays next to Becca and tries to figure out how in the hell she's going to enjoy her own party when Naomi's around. She tells herself she's dreading it, but as she falls asleep she can't keep the smile off her face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for the reviews, they make my day. Again I'm sorry this took so long.**

Emily's tires damn near screech as she pulls into the parking lot where Cook is waiting for her, leaning against the hood of his car. She knows she's late for their meeting, and Cook drives that point home when he gives her a look as she gets out of her car, apologizing profusely as they rush into the shop. Luckily they're here for Cook to get fitted for a tux and they don't actually have to spend the time to pick out a style, they already did that months ago with James. As Cook looks around inside, stunned at the amount of options lining the walls, Emily re-introduces herself to one of the employees and gets him set up.

Soon enough Emily is sitting outside a dressing room, waiting for Cook to emerge. She absentmindedly scrolls through her phone, trying to pass the time. There's a text from Becca that's been waiting for a response for an hour or so, but she continues to put it off. For not the first time in the past week, Emily finds herself staring at Naomi's newly-added name in her contacts list, wishing she had a text from her to respond to as well. Emily's spent far too much time trying to think of a text to compose to her. She's gone as far as typing some out, mostly about the hen night and if Katie has contacted her yet, but she never sends it. She knows she shouldn't, knows she can't. But the past couple days the party can't stay out of her mind, and Emily fears it's because that's the next time she'll see Naomi.

The incessant thought of the blonde has made Emily feel terribly guilty, but she hasn't told any of her friends about it. She stares at the deep red curtain blocking her view of Cook and her breath pauses repeatedly, giving her all the chances in the world to call out to him, to tell him about this girl that's cut into her plans and caused such a ruckus. But the words never form. Deep down she doesn't want to talk about it, because that means admitting everything isn't perfect. She already has her own thoughts implanting doubt in her mind, she doesn't need her friend's as well. She loves Becca, she always has, she doesn't need anyone picking that love apart, trying to figure out what these thoughts mean. This is her own burden to bear if she wants everything to remain normal.

Cook distracts her when he comes out of the dressing room with his arms out and does a quick spin. Emily can't remember a time she's seen Cook dress up, it makes him look so different from the 16-year-old delinquent she met all those years ago that she temporarily forgets about her problems. All this wedding planning has made her feel like they're actually adults for the first time. It makes Emily wish Cook would find a girl to date for more than a couple weeks and maybe try to find someone to settle down with. Sometimes she worries about Cook, she wonders if he's hiding loneliness under his obnoxious exterior.

"Whatcha think?"

"Cook...you look so good."

"Yeah...I know." He smiles and turns back to the mirror to check himself out, "I'm totally getting laid at your wedding."

Emily laughs, "Yes, I'm sure you will." She walks up and straightens his bowtie, adjusts his collar, "When are you gonna find a girl Cook?."

"Already found one..." Cook kisses the back of Emily's left hand and then eyes her ring, "But she loves another."

"Oh fuck off..." Emily playfully pushes him away as the the tailor returns to take measurements, so Emily retreats to her spectator seat.

"Speaking of settling...is Katie still dating that one bloke?"

Emily retrieves her phone again and decides to finally text Becca back, "Ummm not sure...I know she's bored of him, if they're still together it won't be for long." Emily looks up from her phone, "Wait, why?"

Cook shrugs, "No reason, just never liked him is all."

"He is a bit of an ass, but so is everyone she dates."

"The girl has shit taste." Cook sighs as he looks in the mirror, but then smiles at Emily's reflection, "Fuck Emilio...I can't believe it's less than two months away."

Emily's gaze doesn't leave her phone, "Yeah...crazy."

Cook narrows his eyes at her, "That wasn't enthusiastic."

She finds Cook's reflection and tries to up the excitement in her voice, "Don't get me wrong, I'm excited. It's just stressful, you know?" _And I can't stop thinking about another woman. So there's that._

"Can't be that stressful anymore," Cook turns from the mirror to look directly at her, "You and Becks doin' alright?"

"Of course we are. That fight last week turned out fine, we had a good night."

"And since then?"

Emily shrugs, tries to be casual, "It's been fine."

"Fine? Not good?"

Emily laughs to try to break the tension, but it comes out as more of an awkward, nervous laugh. It's not really a lie though, Becca and her have been good, it's just that Emily's mind has been elsewhere.

"Cook, everything's good, seriously. Don't worry." She searches her mind for a subject change, "Are you sure you can afford the tux? I can help you if you need it."

"No Emily, I told you it's fine. This is your wedding, I'm supposed to buy you shit, not the other way round."

"Just promise you'll let me know if you need help." Cook agrees, but Emily still wonders if she can call and pay for it before he goes to pick it up. She's always felt the need to take care of him.

When they're done and Cook is back to his normal self, Emily groans about having to work, wishes she could fuck off her shift and chill with him all day to take her mind off her lady issues. Responsibility is a bitch, but working at a bar does have its advantages.

Emily leans against her car door, "Come have a drink at the bar, Thomas is working."

Cook lights a cigarette and looks to be thinking about it, but Emily knows he'll come. He lives right by the bar and he's hardly one to turn down a free drink.

"Haven't seen that fucker in ages, I'll come for a bit."

When they walk through the front doors of the pub twenty minutes later, Cook immediately yells to Thomas, causing the whole place to look at them. He darts across the room and forces Thomas into a hug over the wood of the bar. By the time Emily catches up Thomas is already pulling him a pint and Cook is greedily eyeing Emily's other bartender, Rachel.

"Hey. Hey..." Emily slaps Cook's face until he looks back to her and she puts a finger in his face, "No. You will not hit on her. She's having trouble with her boyfriend and is very vulnerable right now," Cook smiles, knowing it's his perfect time to strike, "So you _will not_ try anything unless you plan on sweeping her off her feet and falling in love with her. Got it?"

Cook nods, but his smile doesn't falter, Emily doubts he'll actually listen. Rachel looks terribly sad today, she has for weeks. For a moment Emily considers sending her home, but it's decently busy for the early evening hour, and Emily doesn't want to fuck herself over for the whole night. One of her cooks calls her name from the kitchen, and Emily is forced to postpone the decision until later anyway as she leaves Cook and Thomas to catch up and she gets to work. In the first three hours of her shift Emily is only occasionally able to chat with Cook between darting around the building making sure everything is going smoothly. It hardly feels like any time has passed when Cook slams another empty glass onto the bar and belches loudly, it seemed only minutes ago that he was stone cold sober.

"Alright Ems, I'm out of here."

Emily eyes him, she lost count of how many beers he had, "How many?"

Cook makes a face, knows he's in trouble. Emily puts her hand out, pulling a groan from him but he takes his keys from his pocket and hands them over. Emily separates the key to his flat from the rest of them and gives it back to him.

"But it's so far!"

"Don't be a baby, it's hardly over a mile. I'll drop them off after my shift."

Cook pulls a sad face but doesn't complain any further. He calls out a goodbye as he walks away, and Emily watches him stumble towards the door, singing loudly along to the music blaring from the speakers. Halfway there he runs into a chair that a bleach-blonde woman is sitting in, almost spilling her beer, but she manages to hold on. There's been countless times in the last two weeks that Emily's heart has jumped out of her body at the sight of a blonde head of hair, then disappointedly slumped back into it's boring, beating life when she realized it wasn't Naomi. But this time she freezes in her tracks, and her heart does a jig against her ribcage as she stares at the woman currently accepting Cook's not-so-coherent apology. Because this time it _is_ Naomi, clutching her near-spilled pint in _Emily's _bar, chatting with _Emily's _best friend.

Cook walks on towards the door, unaware of the fact that the girl he ran into has been crashing on the couch in his best friend's head, but Emily's attention remains firmly rooted on Table 10. Naomi turns back to her three friends and their playfully intense argument, while Emily feels the need to hide her face behind the beer taps as she strains to hear the subject of their discussion. She recognizes one of her friends as Freddie, their server from the other night, and wonders if the other two are her coworkers as well. They all must have snuck in here while Emily was in the back over the last hour or so.

Naomi starts gesturing wildly to prove a point, making Emily smile and her heart race. The excitement builds so fast she doesn't know what to do with it. All she's been thinking about since the dinner date was being able to see Naomi again and actually get a chance to talk to her, and now here she is, but Emily's guilt keeps her from running out there to say hello. The number one rule of bartending is to not cross the bar, shit gets messy when you do. If she follows that and doesn't go out to instigate the conversation, she can hardly be blamed for doing anything wrong. But Emily has never been more tempted to break that rule than in this moment.

"Do you know them?"

Emily had barely realized Thomas was standing next to her this whole time, "What? Who?"

Thomas laughs, "Maybe someone at the table you've been staring at?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, the blonde one, I kinda know her."

Thomas looks up and finds the object of Emily's distraction, "Wow...she is very beautiful."

Emily throws her next words up like a wall, "She's gay."

Thomas sighs, "That is a shame, she is the type of girl that could get you into trouble."

_Shit._ Thomas wasn't implying Emily would actually do anything or has any intention to, but she knows he's right. Emily stares at Naomi's smile and the decision to follow her first rule is made for her. A good fiancee would stick right here and not go talk to the beautiful woman she can't stop thinking about. But that doesn't mean she can't find a way to be behind the bar all night to increase the chance of Naomi spotting her...

Emily finally tears her eyes away from Table 10 and surveys the rest of the room. It's cleared out a bit since she arrived, turning into a pretty relaxed night, but Emily knows that even if it was a crazy night she would make the same decision she's about to, just for the chance to serve one drink to Naomi.

When Rachel finishes her transaction, Emily calls her name and gestures for her to follow her into the office. She immediately feels bad about it when Rachel loses the color in her face, thinking she's in trouble as she follows Emily around the corner.

Rachel stops in the doorway and stares at her feet, Emily thinks she might cry.

"Is everything alright Rachel?"

She takes a deep breath, continually trying to hold back tears, "Not really, I think Rob's gonna break up with me."

"You should go home."

Rachel loses control and hides her face with her hands to cover the tears, "I'm sorry Emily, I know I'm a mess but no one could cover my shift tonight! I can pull it together, I promise."

"Relax...you're not in trouble. If you need the money by all means stay, but if you want the night off I'll cover for you."

Rachel sniffs and wipes her eyes, "Really? I'm not gonna get fired?"

Emily laughs, "No, of course not! Why would you think that, I'm not that mean around here, am I?"

Rachel shrugs awkwardly, "Well you fired Brooke last week for being like ten minutes late..."

Emily rolls her eyes in disbelief, "Christ...is she telling people that? I fired her because I caught her on camera stealing money from the till."

"Oh..." Rachel's face falls as she realizes she was lied to, "What a bitch!"

Emily laughs again and agrees, "Cash out and go home."

"Thank you so much Emily!"

Emily lets Rachel hug her before she hurries out of the office. Before following her out Emily shoots a text to Becca that she'll be home late, even though she's probably asleep and won't get it until the morning when she wakes up for work.

Back at the bar it takes hardly 20 minutes for Emily's plan to work out. She looks up from pouring a drink just in time to catch Naomi approach the bar and start rattling off an order for their next round to Thomas.

"Oi!"

Emily focuses back on her customer, "Yeah?"

He waves the tenner in his hand around, "Ya want me to pay ya or what?"

"Oh right...yeah, sorry. 7.50."

He tosses the ten onto the bar and mutters "keep it" as he walks away. Emily absentmindedly calls a thanks after him to deaf ears. Another bloke comes up and orders from her and Emily is nearly bitchy with him for interrupting her approaching Naomi, fearing she'll miss her chance, but she manages to curb it. When she's finished with him, she catches Naomi looking over her shoulder at her friends before picking up the only shot amongst the drinks.

As she walks the length of the bar, Emily continually reminds herself that she doesn't have to feel guilty if she manages to remain friendly and not be flirty. Naomi is here of her own accord and ordering drinks from her bar, it'd practically be rude not to go talk to her.

Emily leans against the bar in front of Naomi just as she throws the shot back, "Sneaking shots?"

Naomi spots Emily and her eyes widen as she's recovering from what looked like whiskey, "Emily!" She slams the glass down on the bar and coughs through the harshness before she's able to continue, "Holy shit!" Naomi stares for a few moments, shocked into silence from this random meeting, but then she smiles, "Hey..."

"Hi." Emily's heart starts dancing again as she returns the smile. She ignores the voice in her head telling her how much she's missed Naomi's face. Emily realizes she needs to say something so they don't spend the whole night staring at each other, "Hiding shots from your friends?"

The flush in Naomi's cheeks from her buzz becomes even more pronounced. Emily can tell she's pretty drunk, she's curious if this is the only shot she's snuck in.

Naomi giggles and her smile widens, "They all work with me, our shifts ended at the same time so we got a little buzzed at the restaurant. For some reason I decided I'd buy everyone's drinks at the next bar. I get extra nice when I'm drunk, terrible habit of mine."

Emily's smile doesn't falter, but the story almost makes her sad. She knows she'll never get to be Naomi's friend like these people are, to know her like they do, it makes her extremely jealous of them.

"...I wanted a shot but didn't want to buy one for everyone, am I an asshole?"

Emily laughs, "No, I don't think so. Shots are overpriced."

"Don't encourage me."

Emily starts pouring shots for her friends, but Naomi is too distracted with her own thoughts to notice that they must be for her since no one else ordered anything from Emily.

"I umm...I didn't know you worked here."

Emily nods, "Have for quite a while."

"I've never been here, I think I like it though." Naomi gives Emily a sly smile, encouraging Emily's inappropriate thoughts without her realizing it.

"Good." Emily puts the shots on the bar in between them, "...For your friends, on the house."

"No, Emily," She uses her hands to accentuate her disapproval, "Shit I shouldn't have said that, you don't have to do that."

"Too late, they're already made."

"Really Emily I can't take those."

"You're gonna let them go to waste?"

"I'll pay for them, really."

Emily crosses her arms, leans on the bar and raises an eyebrow at Naomi, "I know all that shit Becca and I got the other night costs way more than what we paid."

"Yeah..." Naomi knows she's lost the battle, "But you don't owe me anything."

Emily smiles, "I know. But you see now you owe me." Naomi cocks her head adorably in confusion, "I'm making you look even more generous to your friends, so now you owe me."

Naomi laughs and nods, "Alright, deal. Will you be here all night?" Emily nods and Naomi gathers the drinks in her hands, "Good, I should take these over, but I'll be back."

"Don't be long."

Emily watches her return to the table practically in a daze. When Naomi sits down she shakes herself out of it, realizing what she just said. _Don't be long? What the fuck was that? I can't fucking say that, Jesus... _

Emily stares at the ring on her finger before helping an old guy that just sat down next to where Naomi was. The sight of it should make her feel terrible, but it doesn't inspire the feelings of guilt she expected, the excitement of Naomi actually being here is enough to cover it up. At least for now.

It doesn't take long for Naomi to convince her coworkers to migrate back to the bar. Emily tells Thomas she'll help their group, and by the time she makes it over to them Naomi has her head propped up by her arm on the bar, smiling drunkenly at her as she approaches.

"Another round?" Emily spots Freddie at the end of the bar kissing one of the women from their group, "They're having a good night..."

Naomi turns to see what she's talking about and practically rolls her eyes, "Fucking finally. I hope they shag, they've been beating around it for ages."

_Okay Naomi, if we're going to be friends you need to not talk about sex. Ever. _Emily pushes the thought of her and Naomi being in Freddie and the girl's place right now.

Emily starts getting them drinks to give her mind something else to think about, "You're not driving, right?"

Naomi shakes her head vehemently and points to her other coworker sitting next to her that doesn't have Freddie's hands all over her. She introduces herself and Emily responds, but she wasn't actually listening.

"I've hardly had anything, don't worry..." The girl rattles on and Emily isn't rude to her, but as she talks Emily just wishes she'd stop. The chance to get to know Naomi is finally here, she can't let this girl talk through it. She needs to get Freddie and the other girl back here so she can have Naomi all to herself. An idea comes quickly; Emily pours another round of shots for Naomi, Freddie, and his girlfriend to get them off of each other's faces and back to the conversation.

It works very well, nothing is better at corralling drunk people than offering to get them more drunk. Freddie and the girlfriend come back to the group, allowing the next couple hours to be spent exactly how Emily hoped for when she saw Naomi in her crowd; Naomi practically ignoring her friends and Emily practically ignoring her other customers so they can talk without Becca around making Emily cautious of everything she's saying. But Emily knows she can't completely ignore the other patrons and fuck over Thomas, so she is constantly interrupted, bouncing back and forth between their broken conversation and making drinks. When she wasn't able to be in front of them, she found herself hardly able to keep her eyes off Naomi and her lazy smile as she listened to her friends, she was growing addicted to the coy look Naomi would get when Emily caught her watching her.

Closing time creeps up on them, she doesn't realize there's hardly anyone in the bar until she's cashing out Naomi and her friends.

Naomi watches Emily as she swipes her credit card, "Do you like working here?"

"Yeah, the owner's an old friend of mine and he's really chill, so it's easy."

Naomi eyes her skeptically, "Do you actually like it, or is it just easy?"

Emily smiles, shrugs, "Little of both." She leans on the bar as Naomi signs the receipt, "I do like it, but I guess I've always wanted to open my own place."

"You should! What kind of place?"

"I haven't really put much thought into it. But something nicer, maybe gayer."

"Promise you'll call me if you need a fancy chef?"

Emily nods, "I wouldn't want anyone else."

Naomi's smile fades as she finishes off her beer and starts picking at a divot on the surface of the bar. Her eyes fall to watch her fingers pick at the spot and Emily grows concerned, as she's never seen Naomi so uncertain. When she finally looks up to meet Emily's gaze, she's surprised at how serious she is.

"Emily, I-"

Freddie appears behind Naomi and shows her his phone. Naomi breaks their eye contact to focus on the small screen shoved in front of her face. Emily is barely able to stop herself from telling Freddie to fuck off. Any serious sentence coming from Naomi needs to be said.

"Text from Effy. Want to head over there?"

"Yeah why not, I'm off tomorrow." She turns back to Emily and seems to mentally brush off whatever she was about to say and forces the smile back on her face, "How late will you be?"

Emily shrugs, "An hour, maybe less. Is there an after party?"

"Yeah, nothing big. You could come...if you want."

The butterflies swarm in Emily's stomach like she's being asked on a date. _Be casual, you're just friends and she doesn't want to be anything more._

"Yeah, that'd be cool."

She doesn't think about how pissed Becca will be if she stumbles in drunk at 5am but wonders if she should think of an excuse for where she was. Hanging out with friends would be the truth, but Becca will want to know who, she's not sure if she should lie or not. But if Becca invited her to the hen night, she obviously isn't worried about Emily hanging out with Naomi. But right now Emily isn't too worried about it, she's more concerned about getting Naomi to finish that sentence.

"I'm gonna take a smoke break, meet me out back? You can give me the address."

Emily leaves Thomas to start closing up, quickly grabs her fags from the office and meets them in the shady lot in the back. Like usual Emily spends a bit digging in her pockets for a lighter, but her search is cut short this time. Emily looks up, past the flame that Naomi produced in front of her, and returns her smile. It's a mirror image of the moment they met, but so much has changed since then. Emily looks at Naomi's eyes shining brightly in the moonlight and realizes she feels like a completely different person from the one she was the first time she met Naomi.

"How do you smoke when I'm not around?"

Emily laughs and the movement causes a chunk of hair to fall in front of her face. When her left hand automatically moves to brush it away, Freddie's snogging buddy steps closer and grabs her hand, effectively ruining her moment with Naomi.

"Fuck me! Look at this rock!" She pulls Emily's hand towards her friends to show them her engagement ring. The light catches on the diamond, making it look particularly impressive. This isn't the first time someone has made a fuss about Emily's ring, everyone loves the idea of a wedding, but it's the first time she's felt so uncomfortable about it. "I didn't know you were engaged."

"Yeah..." Naomi takes a couple steps back from the two of them and looks at the ground, her serious face back on strong. Snogging girl runs through the list of tired questions about the upcoming wedding, Emily says all the right answers but her focus is on Naomi and her change in mood.

"Congratulations!"

"Thanks..."

Naomi jerks into action as if she'd made a mental decision, she flicks her hardly smoked cigarette to the ground.

"You mind taking me home before you go to Effy's?"

The friend nods, "Yeah, you alright?"

"Yeah, just feel a bit shit." Naomi starts walking backwards towards their car, "We'll hang out another time Emily. I might see you at the party, but I might have to work that night."

"Oh...okay. Well let me know..."

Emily's sentence fades because Naomi turns away as she walks, she waves and calls over her shoulder, "Thanks for the drinks."

Before Emily can even utter a goodbye Naomi is too far away to hear it. She aggressively throws her cigarette down and stamps it out, like a child angrily crushing a sandcastle that wasn't turning out how they wanted it to. The overwhelming dejection she feels causes the guilt she expected earlier to wash over her. Emily is left standing alone in the doorway with a pit in her stomach, watching Naomi and her friends drive away without a second glance at the girl they left behind.


End file.
